Black Placenames

Think of the word ‘black’ and you will be hard pressed to come up with anything that does not have dark, evil, sinister or menacing associations; blackmail, black arts, black ops, blackball, Black Friday, Black Death, blacklist, black mark, black market, black sheep, etc. The very colour is synonymous with death and morning in most European cultures, again suggestive of sombre connections. The actual word comes from Old English blæc which means amazingly black or dark and in some contexts ink, incidentally the earliest prehistoric art yet found was painted in black. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following description of the word:

“Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch blac ink, Old Saxon blac ink (Middle Low German blak ink, black dye, black colour), Old High German blah- (only in blah-faro of the colour of ink, blah-mal niello decoration (Middle High German blach-mal ), blah-malon to decorate with niello); further etymology uncertain; on formal grounds the word could be from a base related to the Germanic bases of blank adj. and the various forms discussed at blik v., but since this would give an expected meaning ‘shining, white’ there is an obvious semantic difficulty; many have sought to resolve this by hypothesizing that the word meaning ‘black’ originated as a past participle (with the meaning ‘burnt, blackened’) of a verb meaning ‘to burn (brightly)’ derived from this base; this verb may perhaps be reflected by Middle Dutch blaken (Dutch blaken) to flame, to burn.”

To some people Dartmoor has a black menacing appearance with many dark and sinister places which if you use the above suggestion is easily brought about by looking at the Ordnance Survey map. There are many, many locations that have the ‘black’ descriptive place-name prefix element attached to them. For instance – Black Hole, does that sound a welcoming place? Possibly the ‘Blackhole of Calcutta’ also springs to mind? Black Dunghill, is that a place you would relish the thought of visiting? The Dark Lake, one might be forgiven for thinking it’s a location from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ but no it can be found on Dartmoor.

Ok, enough of the dramatics, there is a much more agreeable reason why so many places on Dartmoor are ‘black’ and that is quite simply in some instances thanks to the presence of peat. Well, I use the term ‘pleasant’ loosely because it’s not so pleasing if you find yourself hip deep in a ‘black’ peat bog. Blackwood is an old Dartmoor term sometimes used to describe the peat which was cut for fuel, Hemery, p.23. It may well derive from the fact that in the deeper peat deposits can be found the remains of ancient trees that are literally jet black? Therefore it was quite logical to describe such landscape features where peat occurs as being ‘black,’ be they downs, hills, fens, or moorland tracks used for transporting peat or peat workers. Crossing confirms this idea when he noted: “There can be no doubt that Black, also frequently met with, had reference, in some cases at least, to the peat.. The Dartmoor man never speaks of it as such: he calls it either ‘turve’ or ‘black ‘ood’, i.e., black wood.”, p.48. Similarly, brooks, lakes and streams would also take on a dark appearance especially in times of torrent flows although the waters are darker than normal they do have a rusty tinge not black.

For a different interpretation of ‘black’ Worth, notes the following;

“Black, this may derive from two very different sources, either ‘bleak’ or ‘black’, both of which however, come from the Anglo Saxon blaec, meaning pale or colourless. Hence if we regard the first meaning, the limit of paleness is white, places bleak and exposed are apt to be covered with snow, and hence white at times. The other extreme of colourlessness is black… The task of determining which meaning of ‘black’ is intended in any Dartmoor place-name is wellnigh hopeless; so many places are both black and bleak Erica cinerea (Bell Heather) is not inaptly named, and is by no means the only moorland plant which is dark in shade when dry, and practically black when wet. Calluna vulgaris (Ling) has a very similar effect as a ground covering. On the other hand, places where these plants grow are often exposed and bleak.”, p.435.

There is another theory about the word ‘black’ that could possible apply to a few of the Dartmoor place names which was muted by Alfred Watkins. He considered that the element ‘black’ could refer to hills or high point where beacon fires were lit, this being based on the idea that the original meaning of the Anglo Saxon word ‘black’ was light or shining, p.81. But as can be seen from the O.E.D.’s etymology above this is a dubious connection.

There will also be instances where the ‘black’ element refers to a personal name such as ‘Blackman’s Holt’ or Black’s Newtake. Again, Watkins associated surnames with elements of ‘black’, ‘blake’ or ‘cole’ in them as being synonymous with beacon minders.

Below is a list of just a few ‘black’ locations on Dartmoor but there are numerous others when one takes into consideration the associated locations of the original place-name. For instance; Black Tor = Black Tor Falls, Ford, Hole, Mead, Mire and Rings.Some of the information listed below have been taken from Mike Brown’s ‘Gazeteer of Dartmoor Place names’.

BLACK BEAM

SX 664 679

Beam

BLACK BRAKE

SX 683 631

Brake

BLACK BROOK

SX 588? 608?

Farm

Ruined farm.

BLACK BUSH

SX 671 677

Miscellany

A small, natural hollow.

BLACK DOWN

SX 50 82

Down

BLACK DOWN

SX 58 91

Down

BLACK DOWN

SX 681 783

Down

BLACK DUNGHILL

SX 581 774

Hill

BLACK DUNGHILL STREAM

SX 585 777

Stream

BLACK FEN

SX 673 832

Mire

AKA Turf Hill, Broadmoor Mires.

BLACK FURZES

SX 649 738

Miscellany

AKA Blakey Furzes, Blackfursses

BLACK HILL

SX 523 825

Hill

BLACK HILL

SX 604 846

Hill

BLACK HILL

SX 761 786

BLACK HOLE

SX 5731 7820

Hole

BLACK HOLE

SX 582 845

Hole

BLACK HOLE

SX 6125 8290

Hole

BLACK HUT

SX 6458 6783

Miscellany

A junction of paths where a peat-cutters hut stood

BLACK LANE NORTH

SX 5587 8030

Peat Pass

BLACK LANE SOUTH

SX 6270 6944

Moor Cut

BLACK MOOR

SX 7366 6831

Habitation

BLACK POOL

SX 6549 5812

Pool

BLACK POOL

SX 6850 7199

Pool

BLACK RIDGE

SX 595 855

Ridge

BLACK ROCK

SX 533 853

Rock

BLACK ROCK

SX 5350 7599

Rock

BLACK ROCK

SX 5710 7804

Rock

BLACK ROCKS

SX 6295 6705

Rocks

BLACK ROCKS

SX 6553 5832

Rocks

BLACK SHELLS

SX 638 760

Enclosure

Single enclosure.

BLACK SHELLS

SX 5170 7825

Pool

AKA Tadpole Pond.

BLACK STUBBS PLANTATION

SX 723 699

Plantation

BLACK TOR

SX 567 895

Tor

AKA Blacktorr Hedges, Blacka Tor. Great Black tor

BLACK TOR

SX 573 718

Tor

BLACK TOR

SX 681 635

Tor

BLACK TOR FALLS

SX 5740 7149

Waterfall

BLACKA BROOK

SX 550 707

Brook

Also known as The Dark Brook

BLACKA BROOK

SX 574 634

Brook

BLACKA BROOK

SX 580 778

Brook

BLACKA TOR

SX 567 895

Tor

AKA Black Tor.

BLACKA TOR

SX 666 750

Tor

BLACKA TOR

SX 6943 7850

Tor

BLACKADON FARM

SX 6655 5769

Farm

Formerly known as Blacket.

BLACKALLER

SX 7375 8381

Habitation

BLACKATON

SX 6950 8020

Habitation

BLACKAVEN BROOK

SX 592 885

Brook

BLACKBROOM PLANTATION

SX 525 872

Plantation

BLACKDOWN DOWN

SX 714 733

Down

AKA Blackadon

BLACKFURSSES

SX 649 738

Miscellany

A piece of ground so called in 1350.

BLACKHAY

SX 56?? 67??

Habitation

AKA Jobbers.

BLACKHOLE PLANTATION

SX 7848 8970

Plantation

BLACKINGSTONE

SX 7920 8559

Habitation

BLACKLANDS

SX 537 640

Habitation

BLACKMAN’S HOLT

SX 6820 6478

Miscellany

BLACKMOOR

SX 699 773

Habitation

BLACKPOOL

SX 8127 7406

Pool

BLACKROCK POOL

SX 7441 6673

Habitation

BLACK’S NEWTAKE

SX 638 760

Enclosure

BLACKWOOD PATH

SX 6420 6502

Trackway

BLACKSLADE DOWN

SX 734 756

Down

DARK BROOK

SX 550 707

Brook

AKA The Blacka Brook

DARK LAKE

SX 627 690

Lake .

AKA Wollake,

So basically you can pay your money and take your choice as to the meaning of Dartmoor’s ‘black’ places, they could be in areas of peat or dense coverings of heather or maybe beacon fire locations, possibly even bleak and remote locations. They could even be a mixture of several of the suggested ideas or none.